Spudding mechanism for cable tool drills



Aug. 19, 1941. H. w. 'rHoRNBuRG 2,252,741

l SPUDDING MECHANISM FOR CABLE TOOL DRILLS Filed Feb. 10, 1938 2 Sheets-Shea*l l L I o -r:-T-.tna-l- NCL l l I l l O l I v .v,| I I: 1W {Q- y zl i.: if u ,ff g $2 l:

xl Y i Q I Il hIrl INVENTOR.

l A BY K ATTORNEYS.

Aug. 19, 1941. H. w. THORNBURG n 2,252,741

SPUDDING MECHANISM FOR CABLE TOOL DRILLS Filed Feb. 1o, 1938 2 sheets-sheet 2 INV ENT OR.

BY f/mwfkw' ATTORNEYS.

Patented Aug. 19, 1941 Herbert W. Thornburg, South Milwaukee, Wis.,

assignor to Bucyrus-Erie Company, South Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Delaware Application February 10, 1938, Serial No. 189,809

4 Claims.

My invention.` relates to new` and useful improvements in spudding mechanism for cable tool drills.

In such drills a rope passes, from a winch drum onthe main frame, over a sheave at the upper' n `yend of a very slightly inclined'boom, and thence' vertically downward into the hole which is Vbeing drilled in the ground. At the lower end of this rope is a string of percussion drilling-tools.

During drilling, and especially when drilling shallow holes in rock,v there is a tendency to g throw slack into the rope at the end oi.'v each upstroke of the tools. Then too, on the-'clownstroke.

the rope is stretched and has a tendency to un,- twist. i And, when the rope becomes slack at the end of the upstroke. the rope tends to twist upv again. 'This upstroke anddownstroke is called f spudding.

The net result ci!V these tendenciesis for the coils of rope on -the drum to expand, and for some: coils to become crossed over other coils. This damagesv the rope when pulled tight when 1 ,uncoiling from this crisscrssed condition.

Various expedients have been devisedin the past to ,partially clamp the rope, in an attempt thereby to keep the coils in their proper successive-positionl on the drum. But in such a device the clamp must b e loose enough to permit the free hoisting and lowering of the tools, and such a clamp is not only Ineillcient for its main purpose, but 'also causes considerable wear to bot rope and clamp.

' Accordingly it is the principal object of my invention to provide a slack-holding device which ,i mainframe of a drill, supported by creeping (ci. ess-1,1)

Figure 2 is a plan view. partly in section. of the sheave and associatedV clamp of my invention, taken, at a'slight inclination from the vertical, along the lines 2--2 ofv Figure 3.

Figure 3 ,is a side elevation, partly in section, of the same sheave and clamp, taken along the lines 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a plan view of a, portion of Figure 1 taken along the lines 4-4 of Figure 1.

Referring now to Figure 1, we see that I I is the traction I2, and during drilling by jacks I3. The frame Il supports a boom i4, a motor I5,

.f a winch I6, a spudding gear I1, and associated driving connections, not numbered. f

From the winch IB, a rope I8, runs over a heel sheave I9, thence under a spudding-sheave 20, thence over a sheave (not shown) at the top of the boom I4, thence down to the drilling tools (not shown).

'Ihe spudding gear I'I is clutched to and unclutched from a drive connection with the motor I5, bymeans of a clutch 2|.

'I'hespudding sheave 20 is mounted on one end of a spuddingbeam 23, pivoted coaxially with the heel sheave I9. The spudding beam is rocked up and down by the rotation of the spudding gear "Il, acting through a pitman 24.

The winch I6 is controlled by means of a con- .30 V'ventional clutch 31, brake, and hand-levers (not shown).

Comparing Figures 1 4and 4, We see that lever 22, operating through an unnumbered series of linkages, controls yoke 38, which thrusts the'male shall be eillcient and shally not be Open t0 tho35 member of 'clutch 2i into or out of engagement above objections. This I accomplish by an auto- .'with its female member. The made .member is matic device which clamps the rope against wind-v A keyed to rotate withfshaft 39 which in turn is ins or unwinding Onthe drum duringvspudding. "rotated by wheel 4u, belt 4|, and motor I5. The and completely unclamps the rope at all other `female member of clutch 2i, integral with pinion times. 40 42, iloats free on shaft 39. Pinion 42 is in mesh In addition to my principal object, above stated, I have worked out a number of novel and useful details, which will be readily evident as the description progresses.

My invention consists in the novel parts and in the combination and arrangement thereof, which are deiined in the appended claims, and of which one embodiment is exemplied'in the accompanying drawings, which are.' hereinafter particularly described and explained.

Throughout the description, the same reference number is applied to the same member or to ilar members.`

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a drill embodying my invention.

sim-

' with gear I1, which actuates pitman 24, as a1- sliding on shaftsv 25 and 26. A lever 28 is mounted for rocking square shaft 26, and this lever is operizted by rod 29, which extends to hand lever Mounted on links 21, for sliding radially with respect to heel sheave I9, is a yoke 30, carrying a shoe 33, by means of its arm 35 being pivoted to the yoke atA 3| and by means of a. spring 32y and bolt 36, or in any other equivalent manner. Square shaft 2B has a cam 34, capable of engaging yoke 30, when the square shaft is appropriately rocked, and thus forcing shoe 33 to grip` rope I8 against heel sheave I9. l

By virtue of the control of square shaft 26 and clutch 2l, both by the sam-e hand lever 22, shoe 33 always grips rope I8, Whenever spudding is going on; and at all other times frees therope for raising or lowering the tools.

In this way, recoil of the rope I8 is, automatically and without the use of separate control mechanism, prevented during spudding, and yet the rope is left free to coil and uncoil at all other times.

Wherever, in the claims, I mention the support of the spudding sheave as being by arms, the word arms is to be understood as also covering a single arm that serves the same purpose.

.Having now described and illustrated one form of my invention, I wish it to be understood that my invention is not to be limited to the specific form or arrangement of parts hereinbefore de scribed, except insofar as such limitations are specified in the appended claims.

I claim: Y

1. In the spudding mechanism of a cable tool v drin, the combination of: o come; a winch, on

which one end of the cable is wound; a spudding sheave, over which the cable passes; arms, supporting this sheave; a horizontal pivot for the arms; spudding means for oscillating the arms, including control means therefor; a. heel sheave, over which the cable passes; means, adjacent the pivot of the arms, for supporting the heel sheave for lateral sliding; means for clamping the cable to the heel sheave, during spudding; control means for the clamping means; and means, including'an interlock, between the second control means and the spudding means, whereby the second control means is automatically brought into play whenever the rst control means'is brought into play, and is automatically released whenever the rst control means is released.v

2. In the spudding mechanism of a cable tool drill, the combinatonof: a cable; a winch, on which one end lof the cable is wound; a spudding sheave, over which the cable passes; arms, supporting this sheave; a horizontal pivot for the arms; spudding means Vfor oscillating the arms, including controlmeans therefor; a heel sheave, over which the cable passes; means, adjacent the pivot of the arms, for clamping the cable to the heel sheave, during spudding; control. means Yfor the clamping means; and means, including an interlock, between the vsecond control means Vand the spudding means, whereby the second control means is automatically brought into play Whenever the rstcontrol means is brought into play, and is automatically released whenever the' rst control means is released.

3. In the spuddin'g' mechanismof "a cable tool drill, the combination of: a cable; a winch; on

which one end of vthe cable is Wound; spudding means, including a spudding sheave, overwhich the .cable passes; means to reciprocate this sheave, to effect spudding, and control means for the reciprocating means; a second sheave, over which the cable passes, locatedvintermediate the winch and the spudding sheave; and means, actuated by the spudding means, to vclamp the cable tothe second sheave, only during spudding.

4. In the spudding mechanism'of a cable tool Y drin, the combination of: o cable; a winch, on 

